


Face to Face & Eye to Eye

by HissHex



Series: JonElias Week [1]
Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, Manipulation, as always let me know if i need to tag anything else, but no more than Elias canon-typical bullshit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26081281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HissHex/pseuds/HissHex
Summary: For #JoneliasWeek2020 Day 1. Prompt Season 1/Pre-Canon & HR ViolationsJon tugged at his tie, fixing his collar as the polished floor below him shone like a mirror. He took a deep breath and took a quick peek at the notes he had prepared for his interview. There were a few other applicants dotted around the waiting room, all looking terrified.This was not too unusual for a job interview at a prestigious research institution, but he was reasonably sure that most job applicants did not look like they were seconds away from walking to their deaths.
Relationships: Elias Bouchard | Jonah Magnus/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist
Series: JonElias Week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1893502
Comments: 12
Kudos: 36
Collections: Jonelias Week 2020





	Face to Face & Eye to Eye

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, I'm back on my bullshit.   
> I swore I wasn't going to do the JonElias Week, but like with the Jonah week I looked at the prompt list, and then the next thing I knew I had the first few days written.

Jon tugged at his tie, fixing his collar as the polished floor below him shone like a mirror. He took a deep breath and took a quick peek at the notes he had prepared for his interview. There were a few other applicants dotted around the waiting room, all looking terrified.    
This was not  _ too  _ unusual for a job interview at a prestigious research institution, but he was reasonably sure that most job applicants did not look like they were seconds away from walking to their deaths.    
  
Jon  _ really _ wished the tube hadn’t been late, everyone else was dead silent and shaking in their suits. Had he missed something? He knew that the interview was with the Head of the Institute, and yes that was intimidating but really, this fear was almost unprofessional.    
  
Never-the-less, he waited patiently for the woman at the front desk, Rosie he was pretty sure she had introduced herself as, to call his name.    
Four of the waiting applicants had fled the waiting room before the applicant that had gone in before he had arrived finally stumbled out.    
  
Ah.    
  
Well, this explained the fear.    
  
The young man was crying and shaking, his breath high and panicked as he fled. He didn’t even stop to sign out with Rosie before he rushed out of the building, the door slamming behind him. Rosie didn’t even blink, calling out for the next applicant.    
  
No one stood up, they must have been one of the ones who had left.    
  
The next two applicants were either not there or were so terrified that they were stuck rooted to the spot.    
  
“Jonathan Sims?”   
  
Jon considered if this job was really worth it.   
  
Then he remembered the contents of his bank account and dragged himself up. Rosie looked almost approving at him as she gestured him over and gave directions to the Head Office.    
  
  
The corridor that he walked down seemed to stretch on forever, the heavy weight of a thousand eyes pressing down on him. It felt like whoever was in each of the offices he passed by was staring at him, but when he twitched his head to look, there was no one there.    
  
Eventually, he reached the solid wooden door, the copper nameplate on the door reading:

  
**Elias Bouchard  
Head of the Magnus Institute**

He reached up to knock, but before his fist hit the door, he was called in.   
  
The office was modern and impressively bland, the shelves barely filled and spaced out with strange vases and seemingly random items. The wood of the door, the floor and most of the furniture were all the exact same shade and the view from the large glass windows showed little more than the other side of the street. 

The only thing in the office that wasn’t so aggressively bland was the heavy desk that sat in the middle of the room. The dark oak aged and worn from decades of use, maybe more Jon guessed from the stylized “J.M” carved into the front.    
  
With his current expectations of Mr Bouchard, Jon desperately hoped the skull sat on the desk was fake.    
  
“Hello, Jonathan was it? Please sit down.” The man didn’t  _ sound _ like he was the sort of person to cause a grown man to flee an interview crying.    
  
The interview ended and for the most part, the interview was like any other, nothing that Jon wasn’t expecting.    
He supposed the previous applicant was having a bad day.    
Mr Bouchard stood up and walked over to Jon, gave his shoulder a pat as he talked. Jon became uncomfortably aware of the man’s thumb that rubbed against his throat slightly. Maybe he was just a physical kind of man, it was fine.    
  
Jon told himself it was fine.    
  
He started to zone out a little, his attention focussed on the heat of Bouchard’s hand on his shoulder. Vaguely aware that he was responding to the man’s questions, Jon felt like his mouth was moving without his permission and he had no idea what he was saying or what he was being asked.    
  
He finally seemed to shake himself out of his fugue when the (possessive) hand on his shoulder drifted up to cup his cheek. Jon blinked as he looked up at the Institute Head, who had a small smile on his face as he looked expectantly at Jon.    
  
Had he been asked a question?   
  
“I’m sorry what was that?”   
  
“When would you be able to start?” Bouchard looked amused as he repeated his question.    
  
“Oh? I should be able to start immediately.”   
  
“Excellent. I will see you in on Monday, I should have time in the morning for you”   
  
“Wait, I have the job? Already? What about everyone else?” Bouchard finally walked away from Jon, back around his desk, rifling through a draw and pulling out a sheet of paper. He gave Jon another slight smile.    
  
“Yes Jon,” He handed a pen over to Jon, looking at him expectantly “I have a feeling that you will do great things here.” Bouchard handed a pen over to him and gestured towards the contract that sat on the table.    
  
Jon could still feel the warmth on his shoulder and cheek where Bouchard had placed his hand as he pretended to look through the fine print of the contract.   
  
Pen poised over the paper, Jon scrawled his name on the dotted line, unknowingly signing his life away to the Magnus Institute and its Watcher.   
  



End file.
